Persuasive Techniques
by theorbess540
Summary: A woman is kidnapped during a KID heist by the Black Organization, leaving KID as a key witness. Determined to save her and figure out what the BO is trying to do, Conan recruits KID to help after using a simple persuasive technique. If one can call kidnapping a phantom thief "simple" Canon pairings only. Even then Romance shouldn't be a huge factor in this book.
1. Chapter 1: Kidnapping

' ' -Thoughts " "-Speaking

 **Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. Gosho Aoyama does. I'm just using them.**

 **Chapter 1: Kidnapping**

'What a day', KID thought as he tugged the brim of his white top hat lower, covering the top of his eyes. His white suit glowed in the spotlights that were trained on him. The thief stood on top of an armored truck that had been ready to transport the jewel that had parked on the sidewalk outside the building he had just exited. Empty cars were abandoned by the same sidewalk as the owners had been shooed away before the truck first pulled up. 'Cities are nice for blending in. Lot's of faces', he thought absentmindedly as he examined his surroundings.

Bringing his mind back from his thoughts, he bowed, and when he was back up he victoriously held up his prize in one hand above his head and put on his usual winning grin. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I have taken Midnight's Dream", he exclaimed loudly, holding the world's largest dark Opal to the moon. There was the usual twinge of disappointed when it remained unchanged in the moonlight. Yet he kept that same grin on his face as he pocketed the jewel. The ear piercing screams of his fans roared back at KID's announcement. He gave the sea of hysteria and signs- being held back by the line of police in riot suits- a glance. Girls nearly fainted and a couple _did_ , thinking that KID-sama had looked at them specifically. Some struggled to get through the experienced officers' barrier.

"It's was a pleasure, Nakamori-keibu", he acknowledged the man who was glaring at him from under a pile of police outfits and bodies. Nakamori let a few curse words lose at his one of his more "quiet" volumes, still deafening the officers around him. The men muttered and tried the wiggle out of the complicated pile unsuccessfully. The chase had been a long one, KID had lead them across the length of the building twice before heading to the top floor on level six, run through a flock of pigeons, only to jump off the roof, watching in amusement from his perch as the men eventually appeared on ground level covered in sweat and bird poop, and collapsed in a giant pile right outside the doors. And to displease them even further, a white net 'poofed' out of nowhere, trapping all of the Task Force underneath it.

KID's disappointment faded as he felt the truck shift as another body climbed on it.

"Ah, Tantei-san! One of my favorite critics!", he grinned, "I was wondering when you would show up."

He ignored the glare the drained half-British detective blasted at him. The look quickly shifted from exhausted annoyance to tired determination. "Take note that your time of your capture is 20:18:58", he glanced at his pocket watch before looking expectantly at the phantom thief, "Return the jewel and turn yourself in, KID. You've avoided the law long enough. Besides, we all know you'll return Midnight's Dream eventually.", Hakuba held out his left hand. His right one was behind his back, gripping the handle of a modified tranq-pistol tucked in his waistbands.

KID's face remained unchanged, but he felt a pang of hurt that he was becoming predictable. What an insult to magician shows. Thank goodness for the person he could hear huffing and puffing down below as they tried to scale the truck at a snail's pace. It would be hard for anyone- slippery, few handholds- but for a seven year old it's like trying to climb an iron Mount Everest. However, as KID knew, it was one very determined climber trying to reach the top, and once he did the heist would become a lot more exciting.

Hakuba took a step forward, slowly pulling the gun lose. KID turned his attention back to the teen, knowing he should be gone before the more dangerous Tantei-kun reached the top.

KID kept the grin as he fingered the pink smoke bomb in his palm- fully aware of what Hakuba was doing behind his back- "You know me so well, Tantei-san. However, I will have to decline your offer. I've created a brilliant plan on how to return Midnight's Dream that unfortunately does not involve you."

The teen detective spluttered words in return that was lost in the rise of fans' screeching at the sight of a stupid detective trying to get in the way of KID. KID grinned at his plan, 'I'm sure Nakamori would love to find the jewel in his pudding tonight.', he thought with a hint of anticipation.

"Fine", Hakuba repeated once it quieted down enough to talk and now that he was more calm, "But I will still try to catch you."

KID laughed and tightened his grip on the device in his hand, "I expect nothing less, Tantei-san."

Below, a single screaming fan- a woman -managed to wiggle through the human barrier. Ignoring the police's shouts of warning, she ran straight towards the tense situation on top of the truck. Everywhere else, News Stations panicked as all the video feeds from their cameras cut to static. After running about a fifty meters or so, the fangirl paused a couple meters from the vehicle, then flung her pink leather purse at a very surprised Kaitou KID- who barely managed to catch it with one hand.

 **BOOM!**

Something that was very much not one of KID's pre-planted smoke bombs went off. One of the abandoned cars by the side of the road went up in flames. The screaming started again, but this time in fear. The police barrier held- just barely -as the crowd started to panic. Reporters started swearing as the techies tried to get cameras back up in vain.

More bombs went off, this time emitting black smoke instead of fire. The lone fangirl had screamed with the rest of them at the first explosion, and dropped into a ball to protect her head from flying debris as three more empty cars at the end of the street exploded.

KID watched with unconcealed surprise- Poker Face slipping and purse forgotten but still grasped in his hand -as the first bomb blew up, flinching as the next set went off, extremely grateful for the large gap between the cars and the crowd. Beside him, Hakuba paled at the destruction and chaos not usually associated with a KID heist and habitually checked his watch for the time. "This wasn't part of the plan.", he stated, flipping the watch shut- mentally keeping track of time -and stared at the phantom thief for confirmation. Both of them scooted back- right up to the edge- ready to jump down and use the truck as a shield if necessary.

"Not at all.", was all KID managed to force out of his throat as he took a step closer to the other teen, prepared to jump in front of him if necessary. 'These explosions are worse than than the ones from that Mystery Train.', he thought briefly as his face was lit up by another explosion. His hand tightened on the purse.

The sensation of the leather strap digging into his hand brought the purse owner back to his mind, stuck in her more vulnerable position. Apparently Hakuba had followed his train of thought because the teen detective managed to gasp, "The lady! We have to get her to safety!", before a long row of smoke bombs went off simultaneously, blocking the crowd from any view with black smoke. They exploded meters in front of the police barrier, swallowing them in dark smoke.

The black van that was parked behind the armored truck suddenly roared to life, headlights on high beam. It pulled up, parking next to the cowering fangirl. The driver's window rolled down and a thin pipe poked out of from the dark. KID's eyes widened as he recognized the shape and where it was aiming. Without hesitation, he shoved Hakuba off the truck- who would forever deny the girly shriek -onto the ground ten feet below. The half-Brit groaned once he settled, habitually marked the time, and then began to protest very loudly. The rifle almost seemed disappointed as it lowered its aim. 'They want me to watch.', KID realized, 'And only me.'

The back door of the van slid open. Poker Face immediately slammed back down on KID's face as one of the inhabitants leaned out of the van. The handlebar mustache revealed the man's identity as he roughly grabbed the woman by her arms and yanked her out of her curled up ball. She freaked, swinging her arms wildly and screaming as Snake tried to wrestle her into the car.

After a couple futile attempts, another man appeared, this one a foreigner with silver hair down to his waist. He snapped something at Snake before he latched onto her hair with one hand and helped to drag her into the van. Snake disappeared into the dark depths of the car with only one glance at KID, tugging the struggling lady after him. The foreigner stayed leaning out of the car, examining the surrounding with a quick twist of his head.

Conan happened to choose this moment to pop his head over the edge of the truck almost directly behind KID, breathing heavily from the climb and adrenaline rush. The sight of Hakuba flying off the trunk made him understandably wary, but he'd underestimated his foothold in his hurry, and Conan's head ended up higher above the roof of the truck then he wanted.

He had half a second to take in everything that wasn't blocked by KID's legs- the damage, smoke, the van, rifle poking from the window, bottom half of a woman being pulled into the dark of the van, and the left half of a man wearing a black trench coat and fedora with long silver hair -before KID stepped back onto his head, squashing him down from view except for his tiny gravity defying cowlick.

Below, Hakuba balked.

"I'm going to give Kuroba a good one tomorrow.", he muttered as the pain of his landing finally faded enough that he could sit up. 'Of course, he'll deny anything I say, claiming he's not KID.', Hakuba scowled at that thought.

Conan's squawk of surprise and pain had been drowned out by another round of smoke bombs blowing up. Silver-hair seemed to have missed the small head and KID lowered the nearly forgotten purse to block the small cowlick from view. KID praised his own luck, knowing that Conan's luck would had given him away. Silver-hair locked a stone cold gaze on KID. The thief froze- Poker Face slightly slipping -as the man gave him a long glare before slamming the door shut with a loud clap.

The rifle swung back up, Kaitou KID's heart as it's target. Instead of firing, it stayed locked on as the van pulled forward. 'No chance to follow it then.', KID thought. The van hit the gas when the rifle couldn't follow his heart anymore. Another round of smoke bombs covered the roar of the engine as the van took off down the street and disappeared around the corner.

It was a couple seconds before KID could think again. "What... in... the... world?", KID breathed. His thoughts were fuzzy and random-things connected with no pattern- going somewhat like this, 'Snake being ordered by someone?... Black clothes... He barely looked at me… Kidnapping... Gun... The guy with long hair...'

Conan's irritated hand grabbed KID's shoe, bringing him back to reality. Poker Face instantly fit into place as he looked down at the head he was standing on.

"Ah, Tantei-kun? How long have you been there?", KID teased softly. The chibi-detective glared at him the best he could from his angle. The smoke was starting to fade, slowly revealing the panicked crowd.

KID shook off the small hand and removed his foot off Conan's head. He mocked a salute at the child, purse dangling from his hand.

"Wish I could stay, Tantei-kun, I really do, but I've got something to do. Tantei-san." He tipped his hat at the teen detective who had recovered and was climbing the truck once again.

KID bent over and patted Conan's hair, ignoring the squawks of protest. Conan would have swatted his hands, but both of his were clamped into the edge of the truck, keeping him from falling.

"Sorry, Tantei-kun, had to protect my favorite critic after all" he mused softly, loud enough for only the child to hear. Conan's eyes widened, but before he could say anything, KID stood and spun dramatically away. The smoke had cleared enough to see the other side- the lack of any order obvious as the crowd dispersed in all directions. In case the MIB had people in the crowd he didn't want to draw any attention to the small detective, making himself more noticeable. Hakuba pulled himself up besides Conan, face red in anger and exhaustion.

They watched the thief as he tossed his own smoke bomb, disappearing-along with the purse- in the pink smoke while some doves popped out of the pinkness and flew away. Conan eyed the doves, smiling when he recognized one of them.

"Are you okay Conan-kun?", Hakuba turned to the child.

"Yes.", the tiny detective was all business, ready to jump into this case head first.

"Someone was kidnapped…", Conan trailed off when he realized the teen detective was checking his watch instead of listening to the child.

"20:20:37. That lasted under thirty seconds", he noted, before turning his attention on Conan "Did you see anything? Of course you didn't", Hakuba scoffed, suddenly displeased, "KID stepped on your head. Gentleman thief my.."

He trailed off, rant forgotten as he noticed something sparkling. Conan felt his gaze land on his head along with the weight of the object resting there and started cursing. Hakuba raised an eyebrow at the choice words that spilled from Conan's mouth, none that no seven year old should know. Then again, he did live with Mouri Kogoro. Conan was bound to pick something up here and there. Wisely, Saguru chose not to comment on the child's word choice after seeing the glare Conan had already latched on the thing on his head.

Conan spared a hand to pluck the precious jewel out of it's nest of hair that KID had created. Midnight's Dream gleamed in the moonlight as the two boys stared at the Opal. "Can't he do anything normal?", Conan growled.

"I'm absolutely positive that he can't.", Hakuba confirmed as he snatched the shiny rock from the elementary student's grasp and slipped it into his pants pocket.

'Look who is so trusting.', Conan mentally deadpanned as the teen detective climbed down, mumbling about finding the police to give his report. Conan could hear ambulances screaming in the distance. 'Hope no one was seriously hurt', he thought briefly. When Hakuba reached the bottom, he called out, telling Conan to jump and that he would catch him. The boy sighed wearily, but threw himself at the half-Brit. The blonde nearly collapsed under his weight, staggering around for a second before catching his balance. Conan's glasses went flying when the two detective collided, and he gave Hakuba an unamused stare until the bigger teen set him on the ground.

Once they were on the ground they heard the curses and cries for help emitting from under giant pile of metal that was currently trapping the KID Task Force. Hakuba went over to help immediately, tugging uselessly on the net. Conan scanned the ground for his eyepiece, watching in amusement from the corner of his eye as Nakamori wriggled over his men and started screaming at Hakuba to forget about them and go after KID. Even showing the inspector Midnight's Dream did nothing to calm Nakamori down.

Conan found his glasses and shoved them back onto his face at the same moment the first round of ambulances screeched into the square, a fire truck close behind. First responders hopped out of their vehicles and went to work immediately, putting out fires and wrapping burns with bandages. Conan and Hakuba were swarmed by worried medics. They examined Conan first, despite his insistence that he was fine and that Hakuba was in worse shape. Conan was unharmed, and the only thing that ended up damaged on the British high school detective was sore muscles from his KID induced tumble and later catching Conan. That didn't stop the teen from insisting that they _absolutely_ had to find that strange black van _immediately_.

Hakuba, never one to forget a lady in need, sent a medic to take care of the fangirl, worried that she might have been hurt in whatever took place after he was removed from the scene. He was just as confused as the medic who returned seconds later with news that the KID fan wasn't there. Determined to at least make sure she was safe, Hakuba walked around the armored vehicle to the place he's last seen her. Nothing remained of her except tire prints and some footprints, which Hakuba read with growing concern. He blinked and put a hand on his forehead, feeling the headache coming.

"A kidnapping, of all the things.", he mumbled as he went to stand by Conan. The shrunken detective rolled his eyes. 'You would have known that if you were listening to me,' he internally grumbled.

Next, guardians were called, and Nakamori received an earful from Ran over a cell phone once he and the others was released from the net. The inspector winced, held the phone a couple feet from his ear, and glared at the child he was suppose to be watching- the only reason why Ran had allowed Conan to come in the first place while she and her father were visiting some distant relative who despised small children. Kogoro was surprisingly pushy to visit, giving Conan the feeling that the old man had chosen to see the wayward relative for that exact reason.

Conan gave Nakamori an innocent shrug from his place besides a standing Hakuba, sitting on the edge of the ambulance's trunk. He was wrapped in a warm blanket drinking from a cup with a lid that contained hot chocolate while the inspector received a cold reception and a deaf ear.

He took a sip from his cup smugly and ignored the angry inspector's face.

Once Ran was done chewing out Nakamori, the cell phone was passed to Conan, and she turned her wrath on him. He tried to explain that he wasn't hurt and was completely fine, but she wasn't having any of it. Hakuba, seeing Conan's struggle, snatched the phone from the child and calmly explained what Conan had been trying to say. Ran was thrown off by the new voice, but the half-Brit worked his polite magic, and the not-child got away with only a one-month grounding instead of a lifetime's.

Hakuba ended the conversation with a polite 'goodbye' and flipped the phone shut with a loud snap. "You are very lucky to know someone like Ran-san.", Hakuba commented as he handed the phone back to the owner- an anxious nurse who looked ready to snatch the device before the person on the other end blew the speakers with her voice -who raced off to take care of other injured people.

"I know! Ran-neechan is the best!", Conan declared happily, switching to child mode. His posture straightened, a huge grin split his face, his eyes lit up with energy he didn't have before and started swinging his legs. Hakuba raised an eyebrow at the sudden change. He didn't comment on it, just leaned against the back of the ambulance and closed his eyes with a sigh. 'Young ones with their endless energy', he thought, and held back a snort at his next one, 'Not that there is not much of a difference in our age. Goodness, I feel old.'

"Hey, Hakuba-niichan?"

Hakuba cracked an eye open, "Yes, Conan-kun?"

Both his eyes flicked open once he recognized the caution in Conan's voice. The kid's posture had completely flipped from earlier. He was slouching, completely still, staring at his steaming cup with a dead look- crushing his cup, causing the liquid to press against the lid.

"How much did you see?", Conan asked, catching the blonde's eyes.

The teen blinked, taking a moment to understand the question, then wondered how much he could tell a child. But as he took in Conan's tense shoulders and stress lines on his face, the teen couldn't hold back. 'He's worried for me.', Saguru thought, polite icy coldness cracking under the kid's warm innocent concern.

"Not much,", Hakuba admitted, "KID pushed me off the truck before I could see anything."

The relief was obvious. The boy seemed to turned to jelly as he sank into the blanket and he released his crushing grip on his hot chocolate. Hakuba couldn't help but smile at the cuteness in the reaction. Then he pursed his lips. 'That was.. different.' he thought as he examined Conan, 'There was more then worry in his gaze. There was fear. True fear. Conan is the bravest kid I have ever seen. I've heard stories of him facing murderers head on and not flinching. Yet these assailants scared him. Caused him to fear and worry for others. How bad are these kidnappers that they scare Edogawa Conan?!'

Before Hakuba could open his mouth to ask, Nakamori barged over with more officers in tow. "You", he bellowed and pointed at Hakuba, "We need your statement and the jewel,"

"And you-", he growled, turning on Conan, who was trying to look innocent while sipping on his hot chocolate, "-are going home."

Conan nearly spat out the drink, "What! Don't you need my statement as well?"

"Yes, except I promised Ran-san that you would be back by eleven-thirty and it's five minutes past eleven. We can get your statement tomorrow.", Nakamori ripped the blanket off the boy as he explained, Conan struggling to not drop his hot chocolate.

"But Ran-neechan isn't home! She wouldn't know if I'm a couple minutes late. Statements are more accurate right after the incident.", Conan protested as the grown man grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and dragged him away. The boy wiggled and jerked around, wanting to hear what other people had to say. 'I need to know how They are involved!', Conan swore in his mind as the distance between him and the scene lengthened. Hakuba watched with a curious look in his eyes as the two disappeared around a corner.

"Normally I'd agree, but if your Ran-chan is anything like my daughter, she'll know somehow and I'll pay.", Nakamori grumbled as they rounded the corner and approached his car.

"Plus I'm taking you to an Agasa-hakase's house. He'll be watching for us and report to her.", Nakamori opened the back door and tossed Conan inside, before climbing into the front seat, angrily jamming his keys into the side of the steering wheel. "Trust me,", he said as he started the car and pulled away from the curb, "I would much rather be back there trying to figure out what the heck happened instead of playing chauffeur to a brat."

'You and me both.' Conan thought angrily as he stared at the back of Nakamori's neck. He took a small sip of his drink, still displeased with the whole situation.

Once he was sure the older man wouldn't look, a small grin slipped onto his face. He touched the rim of his fake glasses, pushing a hidden button. A green grid map popped up on the lenses, with two pulsing red dots on the fringes of the tracers' range, and still moving. He took note of the direction they were going, and turned off the map before Nakamori could notice. Already several ideas and strategies were running through his brain. His grin turned into a small smirk. By the time they were halfway to his old neighborhood, a solid plan had formed.

'Wait, how am I going to do that one thing?', he paused and frowned. The answer alluded him for the rest of the trip. It certainly was the most crucial part of the whole plan, if it didn't happen then nothing else would. But it wasn't until they pulled into Agasa's driveway- when his eyes happened to land on a certain object -did everything clicked into place, and his smirk return.


	2. Chapter 2: Awaiting

**Chapter 2: Awaiting**

Kuroba Kaito slumped into his assigned seat. He dropped his head onto his desk, too mentally and physically exhausted to do anything. Not even flipping Aoko's skirt was worth the energy. Last night's heist interruption had thrown a huge wrench into his plans. What he'd planned was to stroll into the Blue Parrot in civilian clothes, Midnight's Dream tucked up his sleeve. Jii would kick everyone out, close early for the day, and they would have a little celebration with chocolate ice cream before Kaito went home and returned Midnight's Dream.

It almost happened like that. He had strolled into the nearly empty building in civilian clothes. But instead of the jewel, he clenched a purse that had been hidden on the walk there. He had already shifted through it earlier for bugs and found nothing suspicious (It wouldn't be the first time a fan girl tried to track him to his base). Jii watched Kaito with concern as he plopped onto a bar stool and grabbed the waiting bowl of ice cream. He dug his spoon into the soft substance and shoved a huge clump of chocolate goodness into his mouth.

After a couple of seconds Kaito swung the purse onto the counter, watching Jii"s eyebrows raise at the sight of the pink female accessory. Not that it was unusual to see Kaito with a purse, he had used them in his disguises before.

"The TV stations that were covering the heist cut out while you and one of those detectives were talking on the truck…. Botchama, where did you get the purse? It wasn't part of the plan to dress up as a girl", Jii commented as he scrubbed an already sparkling glass in worry.

Kaito swallowed another gulp before mumbling, "It's a fan's", and shoved another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth. Jii paused, set down the glass, hurried to the entry door, flipped the 'Open' sign to 'Closed', and sat himself next to the silent teen. Kaito usually tossed the gifts from fans on the off-chance they had tracers or something just as dangerous. The fact that he kept one of the gifts meant something was different this time.

"What happened?", Jii pushed, his already worried face becoming more pale.

That was the beginning of a long night. After Kaito told the story, the two spent the rest of the time planning on what to do. It was three in the morning by the time Kaito stumbled into his own house and his own bed. He had left the purse at the Blue Parrot in case there was a tracking device sewn into the fabric of the purse. The scrambler that was embedded into the wall would stop anyone from tracking the purse to the bar and billiards. Kaito's house didn't have one of those. He wasn't sure if the lair had one, but now was not the time to test that out.

Three hours later, Kaito was cursing his clock and it's shrill, beeping alarm as he slammed the "snooze" for the third time. Finally, he cracked open one eye, and bolted upright. The time! He had five minutes before Aoko would show up at his door! He scrambled out bed, realizing he'd never changed out of the KID outfit before crashing. Borrowing some words he learned from Nakamori, he wriggled out of the suit and paused to examine the damage.

There was some soot stains courtesy of the black smoke and a single bullet hole in his sleeve, probably from when he shove Hakuba off the truck. 'Guess they had silencers.', he thought as he fingered the hole. He shudder at the thought of what could have happened to the annoying detective if he hadn't been pushed out of the way.

Kaito didn't bother checking his shoes. He just wrapped the suit around them and shoved the bundle under his bed. 'I'll get to you later', he promised, starting a to-do list as he found his school clothes and shoved his legs into the pants. As he wrestled with his shirt, the front door from next house over swung open and shut with a loud clang.

Panicked, Kaito's brain choose that moment to remember that he hadn't taken a look at his doves since they came back from the heist. He added it to the growing list. He finished with his shirt, flew down the stairs, grabbed his backpack from off the back of a kitchen chair, and barely slipped on his shoes when Aoko pressed his doorbell. 'Sorry guys,', he thought to his doves as he twisted the doorknob, 'I'll have to take care of you when I get back.'

The day was absolute torture. The only thing that everyone talked about was the missing fan, who'd been confirmed as Sakurada Asako by the newspapers. Kaito wanted to slam his head on the desktop every time a conversation started on the subject. Which was about every five seconds. Not only that, Akako had been giving him strange looks ever since he walked in the door, and Hakuba was spending his day at the police station. 'Stupid detective,' Kaito scowled into the desk 'Can't even be here to relieve my stress with some pranks.'

The whole class noticed the magician's tired mood. Wisely, they kept their thoughts to themselves and chatted about the missing woman instead. Aoko was the only one who noticed the teen's shoulders tighten every time it was mentioned. He'd waved her off when she approached him about it earlier. Aoko frowned. Her face twisted into a scowl and she stood, storming over to Kaito's side. Her hand pinched Kaito's right cheek and she dragged him out of his seat. The teacher started to tell them to sit down, but was drowned out by the magician's yelps of pain as the seventeen year old girl dragged him out of the room.

No one dared laugh as the door slammed shut loudly behind the odd duo.

"Geeze Aoko," Kaito rubbed his cheek once she let go, "What was that for?"

He glanced around, keeping a hand on the sore spot as he examined the roof she had dragged him to. The messy haired girl was looking at the ground, silent, shadows covering her eyes. Kaito arched an eyebrow before launching into his pre-prepared complaints, "Ahouko! First you drag me out here painfully, then you don't even tell me wh-"

"SHUT UP!" Aoko screamed, her head doubling in size as a stunned Kaito could only shrink away from her wrath. "Bakaito! Aoko's been worried about Kaito!", she took up a stubborn stance-head a normal size now- with fists on her hips, "Kaito's been quiet all day, didn't even flip Aoko's skirt this morning. And don't think Aoko's hasn't notice the way Kaito tenses up every time someone mentions the KID heist last night!"

The magician froze. 'Dang it!', he cursed, 'I forgot how annoyingly perspective she can be.' He went over the typical excuses in his mind, discarding each of them until he settled for telling the truth. Most of it. He needed to let a little of the load off his conscious anyway.

Kaito sighed, shoving a hand into his pocket and running the other through his wild hair. Aoko blinked, taken aback by the sudden change in her childhood friend. "Can you keep quiet about it?", he asked, eyes locking onto her's. Aoko felt her anger melt away under his cool blue gaze and she nodded. Kaito swallowed, "I was in the front of the crowd during KID-sama's heist last night," he started hesitantly. At Aoko's silent encouragement he continued, "and I near Sakurada Asako when she was kidnapped."

Aoko's eyes widened and her mouth dropped. She looked like she wanted to say more, but kept her mouth gently closed. Kaito shut his eyes, memories flashing behind his closed lids, "I was so close. I could have done something. Thrown a smoke bomb, grabbed her and run. Something. But instead I froze. I could only watch as some guys in black drag her into a van and take off!", he exclaimed, angry at himself more than anything, "Never mind the fact that they had a gun. I should have done something!"

Kaito could have talked forever, but was interrupted by someone slamming into him, wrapping their arms around his waist. He tensed, gaping as Aoko buried her head into his chest, feeling his face turn a bright cherry red. Aoko's face was burning just as brightly as Kaito's. When Kaito didn't shrug her off, Aoko began talking.

"Aoko wasn't there, but Aoko knows that it must have been scary, being right there, watching the kidnapping. But Aoko is happy that the bad guys didn't take Kaito. That is all Aoko cares about. Not if Kaito could have done something or not, only that Kaito is safe."

Her arms had tightened as she talked, conveying all the worry her voice couldn't. She felt Kaito relax and his hands grasp her shoulders. "Thank you, Aoko." he breathed. While not very long or awe inspiring, her short talk touched him and made him feel a better. Only a little.

"Dang, these guys are good", someone muttered as the police force shuffled through the file. They were in a briefing room, two rows of desks traveling ten back. Another desk sat at the front of the room, where Megure and his people sat. Each desk had three seats, and every one of them was filled with upholders of the Law. Including a famous private detective, a well known High School detective, and a small genius.

"They left nothing behind", the same person continued, "No video evidence, license plate, one witness we can't find, two testimonies that don't amount to much, and not even a footprint to go off of!"

Mouri Kogoro slumped in his seat, chewing tiredly on the end of an unlit cigarette as he glanced over the files. Ran had forced her father to drive home last night, despite his instance that the brat would be fine without them. They had arrived a few hours ago, allowing Kogoro to take a short nap while Ran called Conan. When it was time for Kogoro to head to the station, Ran shook him awake before trundling off to bed herself. The detective was surprised- and extremely annoyed -to find the brat already there, bright eyed and bushy tailed as he chatted with everyone in the room.

He eyed the brat from across the room, who was slowly flipping through the file with an uncomfortable look on his face. The brat looked out of place, sitting among the adults with a file nearly the size of his head in his hands. Someone had also brought the brat a couple books to sit on, so that he could see over the desk. Kogoro exhaustively snorted when he remembered that the boy was a "key witness". Megure normally would have dismissed Conan as soon as he got the kid's testimony-key witness or not- if it weren't for the insistence of the other witness.

The same other witness that attached himself to Conan's side, and hadn't left to the child's continuously growing discomfort. Even at this moment Hakuba Saguru was sitting next to Conan, reading the file with one eye while keeping the other on the small boy. Nakamori- representing the KID Task Force -grumbled from Conan's other side as he flipped another page.

Megure stood, "We can figure out what we don't know later. Right now lets concentrate on what we do."

He walked over and motioned to one of the pictures on the whiteboard. It was a shot of a pretty, young brown haired girl in a pink dress with a matching purse, smiling shyly at the camera.

This time Shiratori stood up. He cleared is throat before reading, "Sakurada Asako. Age twenty one. Light brown hair about shoulder length with blue eyes. Moved to Japan from America only a week ago. Lives in an apartment down in eastern Tokyo. Last confirmed sighting at Kaitou KID's heist to steal Midnight's Dream in Tokyo. She was wearing a pink dress that had a matching purse to go with it. The purse, however, is in the hands of Kaitou 1417 based off our two witness accounts. Sakurada was reported by multiple witnesses running towards KID, before tossing her purse at him. From this point on we have to rely solely on Hakuba-san and Conan-kun's testimony, as the smoke bombs went off and blocked any other view."

He paused at discorded murmurs, continuing only when the congregation quieted down, "During the first round of explosive and black smoke bombs, Sakurada dropped to the ground in the fetal position. When the explosives stopped the black van behind the armored truck started up and drove next to the victim. Hakuba-san had been confronting Kaitou KID on top of the truck before this happened. When the truck parked, what is believed to be a rifle poked through the passenger window and then KID shoved the Hakuba-san off the truck."

More murmurs.

"From this point on there is a unrecorded thirty seconds where we can only assume the actual kidnapping took place. Around this point, Conan-kun reached the roof of the truck. He claims not to have seen any of the kidnappers, but did see the victim being dragged into the van through the side door. That moment KID stepped on Conan-kun's head and pushed him down from view. The van drove off, KID exchanged a few friendly words with Conan-kun, dropped Midnight's Dream into his hair before disappearing into a pink cloud of smoke." Shiratori finished.

There was a couple moments of silence before one of the officers in the front spoke "That's all we got?"

"Yes."

The officer sat back, shaking his head in disbelief. Megure took the opportunity to drag everyone's attention back to the board, pointing at the picture of Sakurada "As mentioned earlier, the victim had only been in Japan for a week. And based off where the scene of the kidnapping was, we can assume she came here to see the KID heists. Because the actual event during a KID heist, Nakamori-keibu from District Two has joined us for the meeting today."

Nakamori grunted, not looking up from the file as multiple pairs of eyes landed on him.

"And because Hakuba Saguru and Conan-kun were the only witnesses, we've asked them to be here as well."

Eyes turned to the teen and the child. Hakuba stared coolly, giving the congregation a polite nod of his head while Conan had to drop the file onto the desk so that everyone could see his face. The young child looked unusually nervous, inciting Takagi to excitedly wave at him, which Conan reluctantly returned. Sato settled for sending a soft smile, even as she elbowed her partner for the overly enthusiastic action.

"Mouri Kogoro-san is also with us, being Conan-kun's current guardian and a successful private detective whom we've worked with before."

Kogoro's head jerked upright at the sound of his name, eyes blinking sleepily as he squinted at the crowd. He tried to say "Sleeping Detective Kogoro at your service!", but what came out of his mouth was actually more like "Sleemer Deteive Kooro ao yo serice." and the man's chin hit his chest and the famous detective was out like a light.

There was stunned silence. Chiba leaned over and poked the older man on the shoulder with a pencil. One time did nothing, so the officer repeated the action. Kogoro startled, letting out a quick gasp as he abruptly sat up. Catching sight of his audience, the Sleeping Detective turned red and rubbed his face "Sorry about that. My daughter forced me to drive all night to make it to the meeting, and I only slept a few hours. Continue, Keibu-dono."

Megure latched onto Kogoro with a glare, huffed and turned back to the board "Nakamori-san and I were discussing the case earlier, and while we are worried for the young missus safety, we believe there is more to this case then the obvious."

Nakamori left his seat and stood next to the other inspector. He pulled out another picture from his front suit pocket, tacking onto the board "As we all know, KID has rules that he always follows, his main one being 'no one gets hurt'. The fans are there to enjoy the show the little sick bas-," Nakamori cut off the last word, aware of angry eyes going between him and 'innocent' ears, "-jerk plays with us. He takes it personally if something happens to them. And kidnapping one of his fans in front of him is very personal."

"So you think that the kidnappers have beef with Kaitou KID." One of the officers in the back rumbled.

"Wouldn't surprise me.", Kogoro sat back, balancing his chair on the back two legs, "His line of work would piss off a lot of rich, important people with the money, resources, and guts to do something like this."

The whole room muttered in agreement.

Megure tilted his head in acknowledgement "Good point. Shiratori-kun, I want a list of possible suspects fitting that description. And I wanted it yesterday." Shiratori gave his confirmation before scrambling out his seat and hurriedly walked out the door. "Meanwhile, while he's doing that we are going to find KID and the actual kidnappers."

Conan sighed quietly as the adults droned on. The small detective looked down with a frown as his mind vacated the room, small fingers unconsciously touching the rim of his glasses. There was no point in being in this meeting. He already had KID's general location, and resources of his own to call upon. Ones that could do more for what they were facing off against. In fact if Hakuba hadn't insisted that little genius Conan stay for the meeting, he'd be out there trying to locate the phantom thief. Yes, his contacts were patient and willing to help but-

"Conan-kun!", a harsh whisper hissed in the child's ear, startling him out of thoughts. It was Hakuba, by all observations paying strict attention as Megure continued to talk. Only the corner of the teen detective's mouth moved as he spoke again "Are you feeling well?"

The shrunken detective nodded, instantly wary of any trick the taller boy might pull. But the half-British teen only brought up one corner of his mouth, the closest to a smile Conan had ever seen. Saguru gave a small nod, bringing his full attention back front. That was.. weird. And not like Hakuba either. Conan studied the other teen carefully, mind whirling with possible reasonings. A mystery for another day then.

More important was his current location. The tracker he had placed on KID's shoe had been heading south-west. Conan had been driven an hour and a half in that same direction for the meeting and was currently resting in the city Ekoda. Depending how far the thief traveled last night, the tracking glasses might be able to pick up the signal from here, unless he traveled outside of the twenty kilometer range. Even if it was in range, it was doubtful the source would be at KID's actual hideout. The magician was far too observational and definitely would have noticed the tracker. No, it highly likely the signal leads to a garbage dump or an innocent stray dog.

Nonetheless, it'd be best to retrieve the tracker. Then Agasa wouldn't have to make another one, and save the professor a few yen in the least.

Conan frowned. He could check on the tracking glasses now, but he didn't want the light to attract any unwanted attention. Glancing around, he took in the intense concentration of the police force and the slightly bored face of Kogoro as he rocked unsteadily on the back two legs of his chair. Weighing the choices, Conan decided the risk was worth the reward. Adults would shove off the gadget as a toy. As long as Hakuba didn't notice, he'd be fine.

Looking down at his lap, Conan pressed the left-side rim, an antenna popped out the top of the glasses, and a green street map appeared on the left lense.

Instantly his eyes locked on a blinking dot on the bottom right of the screen. Conan let out a breathless gasp. It was so close! Definitely in the same town. Surprising, considering that the Kaitou KID Task Force was nearby. Perhaps KID somehow knew he'd be arriving in that town and dropped the tracker so the child could retrieve it. It was a possibility.

He mentally groaned as the droning continued. The meeting needed to be done with already. Maybe if he gave a believable excuse he could slip away and grab his tracer. Conan's mind whirled as multiple reasons presented themselves. He sighed and rubbed his face. None of those would work on Hakuba. Maybe he-

The thought process halted as Kogoro ultimately lost his balance as he tilted back a little too far, chair legs tipping and the detective's own weight sending him tumbling onto the floor with a loud 'Ompf!'. The sound startled Conan, whose natural reaction was to look up at the sound with the tracking map still active. He immediately realized his mistake; quickly turning the map off as everyone stretched to peek at the downed detective.

Conan eyed the group warily as several people rushed to help the famous detective up. After a couple seconds he let out a sigh of relief. No one was staring at him. Eventually Kogoro stood and apologized once again for interrupting.

Sato frowned and approached Megure, whispering something the portly inspector agreed with. Nakamori, while obviously not liking it, nodded his head when Megure turned to ask of his opinion. The Tokyo inspector stepped forward, cutting off all the chatter that started when Kogoro fell.

"It has come to my attention that the majority of the personal would appreciate having a short break. And upon reviewing circumstances, Nakamori-kun and I happen to agree. We will be having a short fifteen minute break. I expect everyone to be back in their seats when the time is up. Dismissed!"

The youngest person in the room hopped out of his seat as the police officers slowly scattered, chatting amongst themselves. Conan wasted no time by heading straight for the door. Hakuba eyed the child curiously, but it was Takagi who intercepted the shrunken detective.

"Ah! Conan-kun! Where are you going?" The friendly police officer asked, drawing several people's attention.

Conan went around the adult, shouting his answer over his shoulder as he exited the room "I have'ta use the bathroom real bad!"


End file.
